brought in to make sure that Missouri
remained in the Union.
In 1904 the state hosted a world’s fair
called the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
It marked the hundredth anniversary
of the purchase. The state remained
mostly rural until the early 1940s. DuringWorldWar
II (1939–45) manufacturing
grew in the state. This led many
people to leave farms and towns for cities.
Gradually, manufacturing and service
industries became the most
important parts of Missouri’s economy.
..More to explore
American CivilWar • Jefferson City
• Lewis and Clark Expedition • Missouri
Compromise
The Missouri River winds through the countryside
near Saint Albans, Missouri.
Facts About
MISSOURI
Flag
Population
(2000 census)
5,595,211—
rank, 17th state;
(2008 estimate)
5,911,605—
rank, 18th state
Capital
Jefferson City
Area
69,704 sq mi
(180,533 sq
km)—rank, 21st
state
Statehood
August 10, 1821
Motto
Salus Populi
Suprema Lex Esto
(The Welfare of
the People Shall
Be the Supreme
Law)
State bird
Bluebird
State flower
Hawthorn
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Missouri 147
Missouri
Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an
agreement passed by the U.S. Congress
in 1820. It allowed Missouri to become
the 24th state in the United States. It
also began the conflict over the spread of
slavery that led to the American Civil
War (1861–65).
In the early 1800s Missouri was still a
territory. In 1818 it applied to Congress
to become a state. At that time there
were 11 free states and 11 slave states in
the United States. The admission of
Missouri as a slave state would upset the
balance of states.
In 1819 Maine also applied to be a state.
Henry Clay, a member of Congress
from Kentucky, then came up with a
compromise. Congress agreed to admit
Maine as a free state and Missouri as a
slave state. The compromise also banned
slavery from any future territories or
states north of the southern border of
Missouri.
The Missouri Compromise stayed in
effect for more than 30 years. It was
broken by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of
1854, which allowed slavery north of
the Missouri Compromise line.
#More to explore
American CivilWar • Kansas-Nebraska
Act • Slavery
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows for 2,315
miles (3,726 kilometers) through the
central United States. It is nearly as long
as the Mississippi River, which it joins at
its mouth. Together the Missouri and
the Mississippi form a river system that
is 3,710 miles (5,971 kilometers) long.
Only three rivers in the world are longer.
The Missouri River begins in the Rocky
Mountains of southwestern Montana. It
Congressman Henry Clay came up with the
idea for the Missouri Compromise.
148 Missouri Compromise BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
first flows north and then turns eastward.
It passes through or along the
borders of North Dakota, South
Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and
Missouri. It meets the Mississippi River
just north of Saint Louis, Missouri.
The Missouri once carried a huge
amount of soil all through its course. It
was called the Big Muddy because of its
brown water. Today, however, dams trap
much of the soil in the upper part of the
river. The lower part of the river is
cleaner.
Barges pushed by tugboats move cargo
on the Missouri River between Sioux
City, Iowa, and the river’s mouth. Dams
keep barge traffic from going farther
north than Sioux City. The barges carry
corn, soybeans, and wheat from farms in
the area.
The first Europeans to see the mouth of
the Missouri were the French explorers
Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, in
1673. French fur traders traveled
upstream in the 1700s. The United
States bought almost all the land drained
by the Missouri from France in 1803.
The U.S. explorers Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark traveled up and
down the river during their famous
expedition of 1804–06.
#More to explore
Jolliet, Louis • Lewis and Clark
Expedition • Marquette, Jacques
• Mississippi River
Miwok
The Native Americans known as the
Miwok (or Mewuk) traditionally lived
in central California. There were several
different groups of Miwok. The largest
group was the Sierra Miwok, who lived
in the western foothills of the Sierra
Nevada mountains. The Sierra Miwok
had more than 100 villages when Europeans
arrived in their territory.
The Miwok lived in large, earth-covered
houses. Some Miwok also made simple
shelters called lean-tos from bark. The
Miwok fished and hunted birds, deer,
The Missouri River winds through a canyon
in Montana.
A Southern Miwok woman holds up a sifting
basket in about 1924.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Miwok 149
and other game with bows and arrows.
They also gathered nuts, berries, and
roots.
By the early 1800s Spanish priests and
soldiers had started to build missions in
Miwok territory. The Spanish forced
some Miwok to live and work at the
missions. In addition, Russian traders
who came from the north sometimes
attacked the Miwok.
In 1848 gold was discovered in California.
Gold-seeking Americans rushed to
California and took over Miwok lands.
The settlers killed many Miwok.
The surviving Miwok scattered.Without
land, many gave up their old way of
life. They moved from place to place
looking for work, often on farms or
